Apple cinnamon muffins

Apple cinnamon muffins

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 40 minutes plus 20 minutes baking

Serves: 12-14

After a morning playing in the snow, what better way is there to warm up than with some freshly made muffins. I’ve also been looking for an excuse to use my new Christmas present (a KitchenAid mixer) We’ve still got the Christmas spirit so wanted to do some with a bit of cinnamon, and apple makes the perfect pairing for that.

These are a little healthier than some of the other muffins we’ve made as it uses wholemeal flour and gets a lot of its sweetness from the fruit rather than just sugar.

The sugar topping gives it a little added crunch, but they’re delicious without that if you’d rather avoid too much sugar, especially served straight from the oven.

Mix the dry ingredients

When you add the baking powder make sure you use a level teaspoon. The kids help each other or help me use their finger to level each spoon out as they’ve not mastered doing it all on their own just yet.

Prepare the apples

Peel and core the apples, then chop into small pieces. We used our apple slicer to core the apples, and then the kids used regular knives to chop them up. Dishes like this are a great way to practice cutting skills as you can do it with a blunt knife and it doesn’t matter too much if the pieces are a little uneven.

Add the apples to the flour mixture as well as the sultanas (we weren’t too accurate with our measurements, and just threw in some handfuls). Give everything a good mix.

Add the wet ingredients

Melt the butter (110g) in a small bowl, then add the milk (300ml) and 2 eggs. Whisk everything together (don’t worry if it looks a little lumpy/separates.)

Stir it into the flour/apple mixture until it just comes together. You don’t need to do it too much – it should end up a little lumpy.

Make the apple cinnamon muffins

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are quite full. Sprinkle over a little Demerara sugar on to each muffin.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. They’re ready when they have risen, are springy to the touch and if you put a metal skewer in the middle it should come out clean.

Leave the apple cinnamon muffins in the tin for a few minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack.